August 22, 2004

JULIET HUDDY, HOST: For the first time in our history, two African-American candidates are going to be squaring off at the Illinois Senate race.

Joining us in Chicago is the Illinois Republican Senate candidate, Alan Keyes. Thanks for being with us once again, Ambassador. We appreciate it.

ALAN KEYES: Always glad to be with you. Thank you.

HUDDY: All right. I've got to ask you about the Chicago Tribune poll. You've probably heard about it right now. It shows Barack Obama is leading you by pretty wide margins in several, as they say, all necessary constituencies.

Is this race in your mind still winnable?

KEYES: I don't discuss polls. I'll be quite honest with you. I've studied them, I've seen this sausage made.

I think they are used to manipulate weak-minded voters into stampeding one way or another, and they have a very destructive effect on our understanding of elections, because they actually lead people to treat them as if they're horse races, where you're placing your bet on the winner, when, in point of fact, the people of the electorate choose the winner. They don't bet on the winner.

So I think the whole notion of discussing any polls whatsoever before the last three weeks of the campaign is phony, and even then we will be submitting a questionnaire to find out exactly what went into making that sausage, because I know how easily these things can be manipulated. With just a little bit of tweaking you can skew a result totally. So I think that it's a waste of time to discuss them.

HUDDY: I know you do want to talk, though, about your opponent, Barack Obama. You compared him to the wizard in the Wizard of Oz. Explain that for us.

KEYES: Well, I think he was hyped up by the Democrats into something that he's not.

He's actually an obscure state senator who had actually lost the only federal election he ever ran in by a wide margin, wasn't well-known and still isn't well-known to the people of his own state.

The sad truth is, I walked into the Democrat tent the other day at the Illinois state fair, talked to a lady who identified herself as the secretary of the state party, was talking about Obama's book and describing it, and so forth--and do you realize that she called me a liar when I told her that elements of it were like a novelization, that they were fictionalized, that they weren't drawn in point of fact from actual events?

HUDDY: But what particular elements?

KEYES: Well, you don't know this either? That's amazing!

HUDDY: [laughs] I want you to explain it.

KEYES: Apparently in this book, there are three characters drawn from actual life: himself, his mother, his father. Other characters in the book are composites. They are made up of different elements of people he met along the way. Dialogue in the book is like the dialogue in Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. It's kind of what he made up that "would've, could've, should've, might've" been said and so forth.

I'm not disparaging it as a masterful work in terms of literature and so forth. All I said was that he was a master of fiction, and she stood me down. She was calling me a liar and all this--the ignorance of an official of the state party who doesn't even know their own candidate!

And it seems to me, to ask me about polls and all of this when the people who nominated Barack Obama don't even know who he is, I think we'd better make sure the voters are informed. And I'm going to be doing that job before we start talking about any prospects in this election.

HUDDY: You know, we actually tried to get Barack Obama to join us on this show, because I was actually in Chicago during one of your news conferences where you said you wanted to debate the guy. He promised to debate Jack Ryan six times, and basically he's kind of pulled off of that with you. What's the latest on that?

And, by the way, he did not return our phone calls.

KEYES: Well, I think Barack Obama has been running away from me ever since I got into the race--which also raises a question about all the hype about his abilities.

You know, I'm not going to answer the question of his abilities one way or another, but he has, and he doesn't appear to have the confidence.

I have confidence in my ability to articulate my views, to look people in the eye and persuade them of what I believe. I'll stand on any platform, anywhere, in any format--except one that turns the cameras off . . .

HUDDY: [laughs]

KEYES: . . . and I'll talk to the people of Illinois about what I believe and why I believe it. He doesn't have the confidence to do that.

HUDDY: Are you having fun? I know it's got to be tough. You guys had to throw a campaign together pretty hastily. You got some criticism for coming in from another state, Maryland, but are you having any fun at this point?

KEYES: Actually, I'm having a great deal of fun. First, because of the opportunity to articulate issues of deep principle that are close to my heart. Second, because the people of Illinois have come forward to support me enthusiastically, and to embrace the work that I'm doing, and to make me feel at home because they share my heart.

Do you realize we've barely been alive, I think, two weeks as a campaign and they tell me we already have a roster of over six thousand volunteers? They're coming in so fast, we're having a hard time organizing them. We have good contributions coming in. It feels very good.

HUDDY: You've got quite a crew behind you. They're working hard.

KEYES: Yes, indeed.

HUDDY: All right. Thanks a lot for being here this morning with us. We appreciate it. Please come back.

KEYES: Thank you for having me.